Why Do University Students Not Want To Study a World Language? Let’s Ask Them!

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 8:00 am Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3
  In Roundtable Session: Investigating and Sustaining Postsecondary World Language Education Enrollment and Learning Outcomes: Challenges, Initiatives, and Opportunities (Table 9)

Abstract

When the Modern Language Association published their latest data on enrollments in world language courses, they found that the number of students taking language courses decreased over 15% between the years of 2016 and 2021 (Lusin et al., 2023). Not all languages showed the same level of decline, but only three (Biblical Hebrew, American Sign Language, and Korean) saw increases in enrollments over that period. This decrease in enrollments has caused programs across the country to consider different strategies to stabilize or increase their enrollments (Heidrich Uebel et al., 2023). Many factors contribute to the reduced levels of enrollment from a shrinking number of students attending college to changing geopolitical events that shape the perceived usefulness of a given language. For language programs to stay healthy, and in some cases to continue operating, many will need to adapt new strategies for recruiting and retaining students. How to go about doing this is a challenging proposition. In the end, students make the decision to not take language courses at the university level, so understanding their reasonings, barriers (real or imagined) they face, and their perceptions on the value of world language is important for language programs.
We present the outcomes of a qualitative project in which we interviewed 49 students who were NOT interested in taking world language courses beyond a university requirement. Participants were randomly selected at a regional Mid-Western University and were only screened into the project if they had no intentions of taking world language courses. These participants were asked a series of questions related to their history in taking language courses, predicted future usage of world languages, and explicitly why they did not wish to take language courses.
Before the project began, we predicted that participants would have an overall negative attitude towards learning a language and view it as a fruitless exercise. While that attitude did surface at times, we also found that many participants had positive experiences learning languages in high school, valued foreign language skills for both themselves and society at large, and believed that an additional language would increase future earnings. Many of their comments seemed to parrot back the typical talking points used in recruitment into world language courses. Taken together, this seems like a positive outcome, yet it must be understood that these participants were screened into the research project because they had no plans to take language courses in the future. Our recruitment messages are being heard, but do not appear to convince students to take language courses. Their reasons for deciding against language courses ranged from barriers in scheduling/time constraints, a misunderstanding of the nature of language proficiency, and a frustration at past/future inabilities to learn a language. The results largely show that students understand the importance of learning languages but they face considerable roadblocks, both internal and institutional, in doing so. Discussion will include suggestions for updating recruitment efforts aimed at increasing the rate of U.S. college students in language courses.

Authors

• Scott Sterling, Indiana State University

• Melanie D'Amico, Indiana State University